House prices crept up very slightly this month, by just  £26.

According to Nationwide this morning, average house prices were £214,946 during May, up from £214,920 in April.

Annual house inflation is now running at 0.6%, the six month in a row where annual house price growth has been below 1%.

Meanwhile, the number of property registrations lodged with the Land Registry was 68,953 during April.

Although this was down 16.1% compared with March, it is only a preliminary figure.

The initial figure was also down 4.5% annually.

Of all the registrations received last month, the Land Registry said 23,133 sales took place in April, of which 394 were for properties worth more than £1m in England and Wales, 242 were for million-pound homes in London, with three in the west midlands and four in greater Manchester.

However, there is a lag between a property sale and its registration, ranging from two weeks to two months, the Land Registry said, so the final figure for April will go higher.

The most expensive residential property sold during the month was in Kensington and Chelsea for £30m.

In contrast, the cheapest residential property sold in Burnley for £16,000.